A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Chile occupies roughly the bottom two-thirds of South America's west coast, and its 4,000-mile shoreline pulses with a diverse, consistent, and largely uncrowded array of surf breaks. There are two popular surfing areas in Chile: 

1) The arid north coast surrounding the cities of Iquique and Arica, filled with hard-breaking rock reefs like El Gringo, a vicious peak often described as the "Chilean Pipeline." 

2) The milder south-central coast around the town of Pichilemu, home to the world's largest collection of left-breaking points. Dozens of excellent breaks are located outside these areas—Chile has been described as a "cold-water Indonesia" for its abundance of surf spots—but many are inaccessible by car. (The surf-lashed Chilean province of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, is located 1,800 miles off the mainland; the Juan Fernández Islands, 400 miles off the coast—once the makeshift home to Scotsman Alexander Selkirk, the real-life Robinson Crusoe—are moderately stocked with waves.) 

Chile's dependable surf is in large part a product of the Humboldt Current, which consistently pushes storms up from Antarctica. The coast is also fronted by a wave-amplifying offshore trench. The Chilean surf is often four to six foot, and 12-foot-plus swells are not uncommon during the winter season. Waves arrive all year, but are generally best during the milder months between November and May. 

Water temperatures are affected by the chilly Humboldt, dropping down to the upper 40s in winter, and rising only to the mid-60s in summer. Daytime air temperatures on the central coast range from 40 to 70; temperatures in the north range from 50 to 90. Sharp, shallow, urchin-lined reefs are the main surfing hazard.

Chilean surfing began in 1969, when native marine biologist Sergio Santa Cruz built a surfboard that doubled as a flotation device for studying marine life. In the early '70s, professional divers Luis "Lucho" Tello and Isaac "Icha" Tapia took to the surf at Ritoque, near Santiago, and in 1972, Claudio Castro built and sold 60 boards on the central Chilean coast. Santiago's Ricardo Gomez opened Tropicana Surf Shop, the first retail outlet of its kind in the country, in 1985. Chile held its first national surf contest in 1986, at Pichilemu, with Ricardo Tompson of Iquique winning the event. 

American surf magazines began publishing feature articles on Chile in the early '80s, but for reasons that remain unclear the sport was slow to catch on; northern neighbor Peru had taken to surfing with gusto decades earlier, and Brazil was on its way to becoming a world surfing power. 

By 2003, Chile was home to about 20 surf shops, two surf magazines (

) and 2,500 surfers, with several thousand more bodyboarders. The vast majority of surfers and surf industry is located in the northern half of the country. Diego Medina and Eduardo Panat are often cited as the country's top surfers. 

Domestic surf companies include Salerno (surfboards), Flashback (beachwear), Bomb (wax and sunglasses), and Dreamstyle (board covers). Small-operation overland surf tours cover the remote coastline around Pichilemu. The Chilean surf has been featured in a small number of surf and bodyboard videos, including 

Chile

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

Features

Encyclopedia of Surfing

Features